Babyghost designers Qiaoran Huang and Joshua Hupper—who met in 2009 while working at Diane von Furstenberg for then-designer Nathan Jenden and formed their own label a year later—are attempting the conquest of all conquests. They’re tackling the colossal Chinese streetwear market, and they’re doing it through social media. They have a few things going for them. First, they’re fortunate in that their e-shop is operable there (in spite of the Great Firewall of China). Plus, they’ve been able to tap into the supermodel power of Xiao Wen Ju, Liu Wen, and Fei Fei Sun to help grow their American and Chinese social platforms, which are very much separate.
Still, eschewing traditional retailers in favor of e-commerce is a risky move to be sure. As is their new see-now-buy-now strategy—this collection was Fall 2017, not Spring 2018. But with studios in both New York and Shanghai (“We’re exporting cool from both places,” said Hupper) and a push toward affordability and salability, Babyghost has a real shot at becoming one of the first new-gen Asian brands, or at least half Asian, to break through onto a global stage. If that happens, it will be because of choosy, savvy Chinese millennials. They’re calling the shots now.
Stylistically, Babyghost straddles Western edge and Chinese pop. At the presentation tonight, street-cast models—many of them the designers’ friends and fans—sat about in casual repose, as teens do, while an atmospheric short film premiered (video is everything on social media), directed by Van Alpert and starring, again, Xiao Wen Ju. It followed the supe as she traipsed about non-touristy parts of China wearing light puffer pieces, oversize sweats, relaxed pinstripes, quirky cable-knits, and various on-trend pops of randomness, like a magic mushroom print. A jumbo cat print, too, featured prominently, because there’s no denying that cats own the Internet right now, no matter the continent.
